From Reluctant to Ready: Inspiring Change in Your Participants - Online Classroom

Every Mountaineers leader has met a participant who hesitates, doubts themselves, or shows up underprepared. How you respond can make the difference between a discouraging “never again” experience and a breakthrough “more please!” moment. 

In this interactive 75-minute online session, learn practical coaching strategies to recognize readiness for change, use language that inspires action, and steer participants toward helpful resources—without judgment or “fixing.” You’ll leave with tools to reduce resistance, build trust, and transform reluctance into growth on your trips and courses.

Learn how to:

• Identify and respond to “change talk” vs. “sustain talk” in group settings.
• Use empowering, identity-based language to motivate participants.
• Go the extra step (when warranted) to prepare participants for any upcoming challenge (aka Hello Hiker emails) to empower them to choose correctly, ask questions, advocate for themselves, and come better prepared.
• Apply simple coaching techniques to help participants overcome barriers such as fear of pace, challenging terrain, or inadequate preparation.
• Guide individuals toward appropriate conditioning, skills, and confidence-building resources without using shame (which always backfires on the individual you’re trying to help) or pressure (which usually results in heavy resistance).

Seminar Notes

This presentation will encourage attendees to speak up throughout the presentation and be interactive with prompting discussion questions interspersed within lecture segments. Breakout rooms will be used.

Presenter

Courtenay Schurman is a 32-year member of the Mountaineers with over 25 years of professional experience at Bodyresults.com helping outdoor athletes prepare for their alpine adventures. She combines her expertise in physical conditioning with a passion for coaching as a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach. 

She wrote the conditioning chapter for Freedom of the Hills (eds. 6-10), is co-author of The Outdoor Athlete, and has contributed to the Mountaineers Magazine’s Peak Performance column for the last 8 years. 

When she’s not coaching or writing, you can find her leading hikes with the Mountaineers, helping with the Naturalists birding outings, snapping photos, or encouraging folks in the Conditioning for Hiking Series.

6:00-7:15pm PST via Zoom Meeting
Meeting link will be sent to registered attendees the day of the session.